Thomas Kretschmann cast as villain in Avengers: Age Of Ultron

Joss Whedon has reportedly added another villain to his Avengers: Age Of Ultron cast, having just signed Thomas Kretschmann to the ever-expanding sequel.

The Hollywood Reporter states that Kretchmann has joined the film as Baron Wolfgang von Strucker, a villain from the comics who, in the Marvel-verse, is a Nazi officer who becomes a head of HYDRA.

Star scoopers Latino Review reported on the character's presence in the film a month ago , with their sources stating that Strucker is the boss of the Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) and Quicksilver (Aaron Taylor-Johnson).

That's unconfirmed, though, so take it with a little pinch of salt.

Either way, Strucker won't be the only Big Bad in the film according to LR , he's only a supporting villain, which means he could be answering to the titular Ultron (who's being voiced by James Spader).

It'll be a shake-up for Kretschmann; he's best known as the heroic Van Helsing on NBC's Dracula .

Avengers: Age Of Ultron opens in the UK on 1 May 2015.

Josh Winning has worn a lot of hats over the years. Contributing Editor at Total Film, writer for SFX, and senior film writer at the Radio Times. Josh has also penned a novel about mysteries and monsters, is the co-host of a movie podcast, and has a library of pretty phenomenal stories from visiting some of the biggest TV and film sets in the world. He would also like you to know that he "lives for cat videos..." Don't we all, Josh. Don't we all.